On Thinking

FLEXI-SCHOOLING FOR YOUR CHILD and YOU?
About 300 students in England, most of whom are in primary school, are involved in “flexi-school”, sharing time between home and school. A parent who flexi-schools her child says a new, higher standard for home educators, coupled with an effort to offer more flexi-schooling options, could result in additional interest [...]

[Read more →]

RESOURCES
I’m often asked what resources should parents buy for their children. Here’s my answer:
1. Use your local library- save yourself money! If they don’t have what you want, ASK THEM TO STOCK it.
2. Although some children love filling in workbooks and worksheets, make sure you’re also encouraging lots of hands-on stuff. Buy the glue-gun, markers, [...]

[Read more →]

For those of you who don’t know what BEESTAR is, it’s a free online resource:Beestar is run by voluntary community teachers and parents. Most Beestar developers are also its users. It’s fantastic for homeschoolers, AND for school teachers!http://www.beestar.org

[Read more →]

How to manage and enrich groups without driving myself crazy?
While you spend the first 10 mins or so of the lesson working with students who need remedial help, here are some ideas for the other students so that they are not just doing busy-work or even MORE worksheets:

Have a MULTIMEDIA CENTRE. A computer with headphones [...]

[Read more →]

Here’s a powerful motivator and extender- it’s an online programme, and it costs less than US$2 a week per child. Yes that’s right! AND it’s been invented by Prof Joseph Renzulli, one of the great ‘gurus’ in thinking skills over the past 30 years.
What is it? In a nutshell, students answer a questionnaire which determines [...]

[Read more →]

Do check out TED: IDEAS WORTH SPREADING; Inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers.
The talks (video) last anywhere from 5-18 minutes. ENORMOUS variety and range of topics, often including fascinating photos, models etc.
• Fantastic as a brain-revver for yourself
• Make wonderful ‘hooks” to encourage children to discuss ideas
• Learn and think about brilliant [...]

[Read more →]

Homeschooling and need ideas? Here’s a magazine I recommend you check out.. it’s American-based, but the ideas can still be used just as well anywhere else in the world.. Feedback will be welcomed by other homeschoolers!

[Read more →]

Home-schooling is hard work. VERY hard work. Also very very rewarding, both for the parents and the children. And it’s fascinating to hear the reasons why so many of us have home-schooled our own children! But that’s another post….
As both a parent and as a previous home-schooler of our three children, I know that many [...]

[Read more →]

I believe that gifted children have special needs and should really be grouped under the umbrella of “Special Needs”programming. Just like other programmes such as Reading Recovery, Remedial Spelling, and pullout programmes for other special needs, I believe that gifted kids must have special pull-out or withdrawal programmes, which are tailored to their needs.

[Read more →]

Welcome to this forum for homeschoolers and other educators. Based on thinking skills – feel free to share your ideas on thinking..
This is for you if you’re interested in thinking, teaching thinking, parenting, homeschooling, and just improving your use of the grey matter!
Please share your ideas and comments with us. It’s the best way to [...]

[Read more →]

Talking to a teacher a while ago who thought that that particular school’s gifted classes should be closed and the students reintegrated into the other classes. An excerpt from our conversation went something like this :
Teacher: “It’ll put the cream back in the regular classes; and it will give a few good role models [...]

[Read more →]

Teaching thinking skills – a phrase on the lips and in the minds of many teachers in New Zealand, especially with the advent of the Five Key Competencies from the Ministry of Ed (Thinking; Making Meaning from texts; Relating to Others; Managing Self; and Participating and Contributing).
My question is: how to make Thinking Skills [...]

[Read more →]